Pain is something you should not get used to living with. If you or your loved ones are experiencing pain, swelling, stiffness, aching sore muscles, or joints these are fascial restrictions. Do you have an injury that has not fully healed, or surgery you are still recovering from? You’ve done all you can think of and you still have pain? MFR can help you to restore your body’s function and mobility and provide you with lasting real pain relief. You can get the results you’ve been looking for with Myofascial Release. MFR is a form of specialized bodywork that is gentle, safe and highly effective. MFR treats the source of your symptoms so you can get out of pain and back to doing what you love. You shouldn’t silently suffer through migraines for years, because you don’t have to. If your shoulder is elevated, we can treat that, if you have herniated discs, sciatica, a pinched nerve, little to no feeling in parts of your legs, or feet get yourself treated with MFR.

The fascial system has the ability to pull things out of place, including joints, vertebrae and organs. If you have kyphosis, scoliosis, a shorter leg, an imbalance in the hips, groin pain... these diagnoses can be treated with MFR. MFR can treat loss of energy, brain fog, fatigue, reproductive health issues, cysts, knots, masses. If you have back pain that won’t go away, hip pain you can’t figure out, I can help you. Your health depends greatly on your fascial health. Fascial restrictions are not something that can be detected in standardized tests like X-rays, CAT scans or MRI’s and goes largely under diagnosed and untreated.

Fascia is the mother of all systems because it holds space for all other systems of the body. Because it wraps each cell and bathes each cell, it transfers information. Fascia teaches the body how to perceive. Fascia is what holds our consciousness, which is why when there is stress, fear, pain and trauma, the body will hold and spread this information. Sometimes even after the threat of pain is gone, the pain and stress created in the trauma will stay, and hold the body in contraction, in a degenerating state initiated by the initial trauma. So it is important to treat myofascial restrictions- these overly contracted tissues as well as tissues that are overly expanded. Healthy tone creates tensegrity this is a balance of tension that is positive. When you have space in your body you sense relaxation and ease when you are passive and active became you are held up by the structure that is fascia.

Getting your body treated with MFR helps to keep your tissue supple and pliable. We want movement in the body, because movement is life. When we get hurt we end up needing to rest, recline take it easy. When we rest it is nourishing and healing for the body, and everything in life is a balance. So we need to be able to get up and keep things mobile through movement.

Mobility means the muscle are contracting and lengthening and equals proper blood flow- circulation. The blood carries oxygen to the cells and it exports wastes for processing and elimination. Each of these systems at a cellular level is wrapped and bathed in fascia. So your heart cells are all wrapped in fascia, what happens when the fascia becomes taut, tight, constricted, it can put pressure on the cells of the heart, the blood flow is less, the heart doesn’t function properly. Instead of the fascia holding the space for each cell to function properly it squeezes down and restricts the flow of life within the cell and within the organ as well.

Fascia can have a tensile strength of up to 2000 lbs of pressure per square inch. This can feel like having a steel rod running through you. I have clients who have felt the tension patterns in their body and many say it feels like a rod. Releasing these restrictions with MFR involves structural work, unwinding and rebounding. There are many different techniques I use in my practice, and my over 20 years working with fascia. I treat with Myofascial Release because I get the best results.

Many of my clients have been into see specialist after specialist. They often report not feeling heard or genuinely cared for, that the doctors don’t examine them, that they don’t ask many questions, or give them much information. I have had so many clients talk about doctors misdiagnosing, and making mistakes in care and in surgery. Other stories about how the client kept telling the doctors and staff what was wrong and they were ignored. After I wrote about hysterectomies and breast cancer, one of my clients said that she had a had a hysterectomy - she has severe scoliosis, and the doctor had made a mistake that she wouldn’t admit to. I had a client who went in to have a cyst removed from her ovary and woke up without a uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes or cervix. Without even being consulted. Many allopathic doctors take the care out of health care, unless you find a good doctor. And sadly, I see many clients who have fallen through the cracks. I appreciate doctors, they are necessary and save lives. They also too often over prescribe pharmaceuticals overlooking the possible consequences, and suggest surgery without exhausting noninvasive alternatives. Without a holistic approach, the specialists don’t seem to work together, and the clients end up paying the price. These procedures and medications have a laundry list of side effects and complications that only the client has to live with. It’s important to begin with remedies with less negative side effects.

Touch and care are some of the most important things to receive regularly. With Myofascial Release you are heard and listened to, with attention towards past accidents, injuries and traumas. We pay attention to when and where you are experiencing symptoms, what is concerning or limiting you, the sensations you experience, how far you can walk, when you bend over, kneel down, what happens. All of it, you get to express it all and it is considered in your treatment. In MFR we treat the whole body, because the whole fascial system is connected. Many times in treatment I will be working on the ankles and feet and people will feel it in their head and neck, sometimes a completely different part of the body will start hurting when a restriction in another area is treated and released. This is because the whole body is connected like a fabric, like a living web like matrix, that changes shapes every time you move and change positions. Have you ever heard the saying, we are only as great as our weakest link.

If you are healthy it is still good to treat your myofascial restrictions, before you lose mobility and function. Preventative medicine is the best kind. I get treated regularly to stay in my best health, and I use my body a lot in my work. If you’re sitting down for long periods, if you are standing on your feet for long periods, hunched over at the computer and rounding your shoulders, find yourself slouching, propping yourself up, standing to one side and putting all your weight on one hip, MFR helps to redistribute the tension, to improve your posture, gait, and symmetry.

At the beginning of each session, we do a body read. Looking at your structure helps me see what patterns and what places are carrying underlying tension. I read your structure from the ground up and you are treated as a unique individual. We look at your feet, your ankles, I look at your overall structure, and each part. I was taught to body read by Lee Joseph who also taught presence and awareness consciousness techniques. I look for leans to the left or right, front and back. I look for symmetry and the formation of the different parts. Wrinkles and folds in tissue usually means there are underlying pulls works and tensions. With awareness I am able to make notes of what looks incongruent asymmetrical and creating congestion, condensed tissue, inflammation. And often times these places in the body are linked. With a body read we are able to assess what is priority, what needs unwinding, what is calling for release.

Your body is important. Your body and the way you feel determines a large part of how you feel mentally and emotionally, what you are able to do, where you are able to go and how much energy you have. This is what health is all about, this is how you show up in life, for yourself and your loved ones, and for your greater community. Get feeling better now with Myofascial Release. We address your body, what you need to release to sense ease and peace in your body. MFR offers you the best results. You deserve to feel good in your body.

Angela Rose is an Injury Specialist and a Myofascial Release Therapist. She offers Myofascial Release at Sol Bodyworks in Grass Valley.